I sigh as I stop on the porch, lifting my eyes when I finally dare to face the old cottage. I'm hit by a flood of memories of growing up with both parents until I was sixteen. My mother became terminally ill, and my father's own health depleted when he couldn't stand to watch his mate suffering. The Moon Goddess claimed both their lives, my father following my mother only three months after she died.
The rest of my life in Portland was gloomy and lonely, and I'd backed myself into a shell where grief was my only friend. Brynta stuck around through my darkest days, but even then, something was missing.
I thought I found it when I visited my parents’ graves one night, as I often did when I wanted to avoid socializing with the other pack members. That's when I found Tyler there, yelling at his brother for dying and leaving him to shoulder all the weight of an alpha.
Was that the reason for his rejecting my claim that we were true mates? Was he only set on filling his brother's shoes?
Why does it even matter? The way he's been making efforts has me questioning everything I strongly believed to be true, and I don't like it.
As I push at the door, I know I'll never truly escape how I feel. Remnants of the broken mate bond send flickers of remembrance every time I'm around Tyler, and perhaps it's something I can't truly escape. It just proves the mate bond was real, I wasn't crazy, my intuition wasn't wrong.
Right now, it's that intuition which suddenly pulses through me and pounds in my heart as I step into the old cottage. The breath that leaves my lips forms a cloud of translucent mist that's visible through the slanted rays of the moonlight resting on my shoulders. A faint ring thrums through my ears, but it's unlike the siren that has since stopped ringing when we arrived at the cottage, and I glance over my shoulder with the suspicion that whatever caused the alarm was no coincidence at all.
Could it be that whatever was after us in Oakland has followed us to Portland? What is it, and what does it want?
Why can't I shake off the feeling that it's tied to a brief fling I had out there?
As another shiver courses down my spine, I turn back to the inside of the cottage, covering my nose with my arm when I cough because of all the dust. Trying the light switch while I'm inhaling more dust, I flick it up and down a few times, to no avail. It appears there isn't any electricity being fed to the abandoned cottage, proving that Tyler was right after all.
The place is unlivable, but still I find myself drawn toward the darkness, my inner wolf whimpering as if it's trying to tell me something. But the thick dust hanging in the air is alarming, and I don't want to get sick.
Deciding that there’s no good reason for being here, I'm about to turn to leave when the ringing in my ears cuts off, and my name is called by a distinctly female voice.
But it's not my inner wolf's voice.
I gasp as I turn around, my chest pulling tight as I gaze into the darkness. It's as if the darkness is curling into smoke that lifts from the ground and travels toward the ceiling, allowing me to see clearly without any light. My eyes focus on the dusty rug in the living room, and my heart begins to race as if drawing me toward that spot.
Batting my eyelids in disbelief as I stare at the spot, my feet move of their own accord, carrying me back inside, drifting toward the living area, and finding my way to the rug without needing to see where I'm going.
The wooden floorboards croak and cough when I sink to my knees, trusting my intuition to guide me as I peel back a corner of the rug to expose the floorboards underneath, my fingers coasting one rectangular block that appears different from the others. Its texture is rougher, as if it's been placed on the floor bottom-side up, and as I trace the edges, I can feel how it's slightly lifted from the surface.
Using my nail to dig out the floorboard, as I suspected, it pulls out easily, revealing a dusty blue box that's big enough to fit a pair of shoes. I retrieve the box and place it on my lap, blowing the dust away. Just as I'm about to lift the lid, I hear footsteps outside. It's Tyler.
Replacing the floorboard and straightening out the rug again, I pick up the box as I stand, calmly walking outside to the porch. I tuck the box behind me as I remain calm and collected, Tyler approaching, visibly furious as his blue eyes shine like crystal depths as he glares at my face. He's marching forward, fists curled at his sides, but I know I can't let my guard down and have to show a strong, unbothered front, even if my mind is racing with questions about what I just found.
“Alpha, I can ex—”
“Are you crazy?!” He exclaims as he glares at me. “Why did you run off like that?”
“I—I needed to get something from inside.”
Tyler still glares at me. “You need to come with me to the meeting, Arianna.”
“No,” I say firmly, stepping off the porch. “I’m gonna go back and stay with Noah. Your place. It’s safer there, right?”
Tyler appears confused, opening his mouth to say something before snapping it shut again and then nodding. “Right.”
Without another word, I grip the box tightly and jog back to Tyler's house, leaving him as confused as I’m feeling. Once I’m inside, I go to check on Noah, relieved that he’s still sound asleep in his bed. In a way, I'm thankful that he's sleeping in a separate room, allowing me to find sanctity in the solitude of the room across the hallway.
I close the door behind me and let out a sigh of relief, but it isn't enough to stop my racing heart. Feeling Tyler's protectiveness evoked emotions that I thought I'd buried, feelings that I can't ignore. I take a deep breath, sliding the box under the bed before taking a seat and trying to compose myself.
As much as I want to hide in the throes of sleep so that even when Tyler gets home, I can avoid my undeniable attraction and awkwardness surrounding it, I'm afraid of falling into the clutches of those frightening dreams I've been having. Since I returned to Portland, they've become more intense, and something happened tonight at my old cottage that demands my attention. I just can't seem to think straight, feeling like I want to burst out of my skin.
I need to shift. That's the only way I can cool down from the heat that's spreading through my body. It's my inner wolf begging to be let out, sparked by feeling the touch of her true mate. It's the most natural response, but it's a ridiculous one, considering that Tyler doesn't deserve my wanton desire when he rejected me so cruelly.
I'll have to go out for a run to clear my head, steady myself, and rebuild the walls that almost crumbled just now.
Chapter 12 - Tyler
